New ordinance means no deal for Alystra land

Potential buyer says he's not interested if he can't put a casino on site

JACOB KEPLER/VIEWThe Alystra Casino property is owned by tennis legend Jimmy Connors. JACOB KEPLER/VIEWPotential buyers of the Alystra Casino decided not to purchase the property at 333 W. Sunset Road after the City Council amended an ordinance to require 5,000 feet between a casino and homes, schools or places of worship. Advertisement

The Alystra Casino is dead again.

Just as tennis great Jimmy Connors was about to sell the property at Boulder Highway and Sunset Road, the Henderson City Council approved an ordinance that requires gaming enterprises to be at least 5,000 feet from homes, schools and places of worship. The council voted 5-0 to pass the ordinance at its Sept. 4 meeting.

Jim Reding, who along with investors was putting together the money to purchase the land, said he has no plans to buy it if he cannot put a casino on the property.

The 70 acres to the south of 333 W. Sunset Road are zoned for residential use. The Alystra's gaming licenses have expired since Connors purchased the land in 1998.

Since the casino closed, the structure has been abandoned and at times inhabited by the homeless.

Ward 3 Councilman Jack Clark said the council has been working for years to get the property owner to do something with the land.

"I have lived in Henderson for 11 years, and I have watched the property go from a nice operation to what it is today," said Harvey Clark, a Henderson resident. "I would like to see the council let it come to life again and be rejuvenated."

The council argued that the corridor might not be the best place for a gaming establishment.

"If this area was good for a casino, Mr. Connors would have built one," Ward 4 Councilman Steven Kirk said.

Reding asked council members what they expected the intersection to become once this ordinance was passed.

"An apartment complex, a few houses in cul-de-sacs, that is not going to happen," Reding said. "It's probably going to sit there for that much longer and become undesirable. If you could just give us a fighting chance."

Jack Clark noted that this amendment is citywide and not a direct reaction to the Alystra site.

"I am not prepared to hold an ordinance that affects the whole city because of one property," he said.

Mayor Jim Gibson said this probably is not the only property in Henderson that will be affected by this ordinance, but he said he has the greater good in mind.

"The concern we have in this community has to be larger than a piece of ground," he said. "The challenge we have to deal with is a problem that affects the entire city."

Gibson said the council has been working on this change for years, and "We don't have a choice but to act on this ordinance tonight."

The ordinance amends Title 19 of the Henderson Municipal Code.

"Even though this is Nevada and we are the gaming capital of the world, it doesn't mean we want a casino on every corner," Kirk said. "We want to protect the neighborhoods the best we can."